Control Test
by Grown-Sliverfish
Summary: RtD, Oneshot. Magolor observes the great and credulous hero from afar — not comparatively speaking. In fact, he's waited a long time to get this close.
A/N: First of all, thank you to whoever informed me about the awful formatting issues that were there when this first went up! (I'd been careless.)

Second, there are probably better ways to make sense of Magolor's personality, but this has been in my system for a long time and must be expelled. Be forewarned of a general sense of Not Okay.

 **Control Test**

 _"It's a good thing you found me when I was knocked out, Kirby, because I would've fallen all over myself had I been awake."_

No, that didn't sound right.

 _"Welcome back, Kirby! I'd have gotten a nice strawberry shortcake for you, but I wasn't sure if you still liked those after that one fiasco."_

No, no, that wouldn't do either. How to break the news to Kirby? How to tell Kirby that Magolor had known the warrior longer and better than he had first let on? After all, Magolor didn't _need_ to say a word on the subject; if Magolor didn't, Kirby would not think twice before searching high and low for every piece of the Lor Starcutter, far and wide for every last energy sphere, then leaving his precious Popstar on the voyage to Halcandra. He would bash in all four of Landia's accursed heads, just for Magolor, with no questions asked whatsoever.

If Magolor did give himself away, though ―and the temptation became harder to resist each second ― he would be elevated in Kirby's eyes to more than a helpless stranger in need of lost ship parts. As thick as Kirby was, he would have some inkling of the countless hours Magolor had devoted to research this hero; no doubt Kirby would treat Magolor as if they had actually known one another for as long! Still, that would make Kirby wonder. Not interrogate, since he wasn't the type who caught on to anything very fast, thank goodness for that, but just wonder in the way creatures as clueless as he are wont to do. That wondering would slow him down. It would leave the Lor in disrepair, and Magolor knew that bad things happened when Kirby was distracted.

He couldn't throw a wrench into his own plans. He needed to wait until the finer details of their first meeting blurred in Kirby's memory, until he reached a point where Kirby grew even more oblivious to Magolor's designs, the point where Kirby would forget to wrap his head around just why Magolor would be so well-acquainted with Kirby and still make him introduce himself, the point where Kirby could no longer be a threat to the Lor's restoration. Then and only then would Magolor rise above Kirby's idea that Magolor was one of many folk who called upon his aid. Maybe not above Kirby's followers who crowded around the deck while Magolor spoke to him, not for _now_ , but still above the fools who had faced Kirby in battle without knowing what they were in for.

Indeed, how far above them Magolor would be! The wizard was nothing if not thorough, and had pieced together quite a picture of Kirby on his travels: Gluttonous but humble, glorious but naive, credulous but powerful. Each time Magolor heard Kirby's name on anyone's lips, he took into account the tone and language of the tales they told for the sake of accurate intelligence, but never forgot any of the impressions the warrior left, either.

He may have been swearing his vengeance on Landia and its claws which grasped that precious Crown when the time had come to find Kirby, but the moment he set course for Popstar, the Lor's wailing sirens became music to his ears. The battered ship carried his unconscious body right to where he wanted, to wake and behold the dim, pinkish face he sought― the opportunity the heavens had granted him to put his research to the test!

Results at the moment were everything he'd imagined. Magolor had put 'responds very well to positive reinforcement' and 'finds almost anything delicious' together early enough― but he flew a starship, and interstellar travel called for careful rations of food. He did the math, and discovered that it would be less of a risk if he bought a few choice weapons and made a number of renovations around the Lor's holographic recreation rooms, rather than merely stockpile treats to reward Kirby for salvaging his parts. Not to mention that Kirby swallowing things other than food was much more interesting to watch.

That was why, even if Magolor usually demanded Kirby return to his tasks when he loitered in the ship he was meant to fix for too long, Magolor also never missed a chance to point him towards a new room to play with his powers in for as long as he wished. Another thing that Kirby's little head failed to find odd, another reward for another step in the direction Magolor wanted.

Towards Magolor's ultimate victory, that was, which countless tomes of fables had written would be boring, lonely, et cetera, et cetera. Ridiculous! Magolor had plans to make his triumph anything but that. Magolor had seen Kirby dance with swords, and he would make Kirby do so inside his future palace. He had seen Kirby twirl a sparkling scepter in a jester's hat, perfect for doing tricks in the courtyard. Kirby manipulated both weapons and elements with such ease, and to think what a spectacle Magolor would behold every day from his throne...

 _...Oh, who was he kidding?_ Kirby did it all to strike down those who were just like Magolor and so Magolor needed a close look at every fighting style the strongest thing between him and Popstar could use.

There was one weapon in particular which intrigued Magolor: the whip. Kirby didn't seem unstoppable when he wielded it. Not without a certain clumsiness. On Magolor's screen, Kirby faced the training room's dummy and lashed out into the air up and down a few times, but its length was too short to reach his target.

Magolor chuckled.

Kirby then stepped closer to the mannequin to where his lashes would at least connect, but instead of striking, he fidgeted with the wide-brimmed hat on his head.

 _Worried about how you look, Kirby? Shouldn't that be the last thing on your mind when you've gotten your hands on newfound power?_ This was _rich_. Magolor could just see what would happen if Kirby dared to waste his time this way in front of him, when he grew into the mighty form he was always meant to have, that was. As soon as the Crown was his, he could crush Kirby into a pinprick of matter in his hand!

Just when Magolor's body shook with stifled laughter, the whip let out a satisfying _crack_.

Magolor jumped back from the screen his glove had been touching, and hovered, rigid, in his normal viewing position.

Kirby had pulled the mannequin towards him. He held it close for a split second, only to slam it against the floor without a glance. The smiling doll bounded behind him to the room's edge; Kirby whirled around to strike again.

 _Crack_. He slashed the mannequin's stomach, before moving to its sewn-on face. _Crack! Crack!_ Two shots between the legs to knock it off balance, and three more to toss it into the air.

The doll held its perpetual half-smile as Kirby kept it afloat with strike after strike after strike, the numbers of which Magolor could not and did not keep track of any longer; he only watched and listened. An impossible reserve of strength, hidden somewhere within those short stubs Kirby had for arms, commanded the whip to destroy.

"Yes," Magolor whispered. "Yes, yes!"

Kirby rained upon his target one last flurry of lashes, and the training dummy was no more.

Of the two of them, it was Magolor who needed to stop and catch his breath.

He closed the camera feed's window, and was tapping away at some entries on Popstar's fauna when Kirby came marching across the deck, headed for the exit. Good, he thought, Kirby was not wasting his time. Very good that Kirby get straight to the Warp Star, where all the others dawdled around awaiting him― Or so it should have been.

"Kirby," Magolor chirped as the warrior passed him by, "you won't forget to give the old game rooms another go, will you? I'm sure you'll breeze right through them with a new record!"

Kirby put his hand to his mouth in consideration, nodded, and turned towards one of Magolor's non-lethal gauntlets: the Whip Challenge.

Magolor once again chuckled into his glove as he always did, though this time with extra effort to smother the noise. He didn't know why he did so. He did know he could afford keeping Kirby around. He knew he could afford Kirby growing stronger. He knew Landia wouldn't stand a chance against Kirby, and wasn't that the heart of his plan?

Only when he was sure he would not be disturbed did Magolor bring Kirby back onscreen, and he smiled when he saw he was still in time to see Kirby start. Yes, the genius of his design had always been in the detail that Landia would have no idea what hit it, while Magolor knew better and better what he was up against with each moment Kirby spent on the Lor.

But it wasn't just that. Magolor was a wizard; knowledge was all he needed for everything else to come to him in time. Whereas Kirby was a warrior, a _Star Warrior_ , and his path to progress was something to behold. It took long, arduous work to be a hero, and if Kirby couldn't comprehend the idea of having pride in the sacrifices one made to help others, then Magolor would gladly have pride in being helped at such a cost. Have pride that even before he ascended to the throne of the universe, before any of his would-be subjects were on their knees before him, Kirby of the Stars, Legendary Hero of Dreamland, was flinching, flailing, falling, crawling, all for little old Magolor of Halcandra.

 _Crack._

Oh, he wouldn't get away with taking the Crown.

But he'll have gotten away with _this._


End file.
